The invention relates generally to recovery of raw materials from recycled hazardous products and to apparatus for cleaning and reclaiming raw materials from hazardous products.
With regard to environmental protection, many state and Federal regulations allow recycling hazardous waste materials on-site. The waste material must remain on-site until it can be classified as non-hazardous. At that point, the material may be disposed of by a variety of means such as landfilling, burning and the like. Landfilling or burning such materials is expensive and a waste of valuable raw materials. Some waste materials are adaptable to being recycled, however, even if the hazardous characteristics of the material are removed, some states still classify the material as a waste material rather than a used, reused or reclaimed material. There is a need for novel methods for handling waste materials and waste products to minimize environmental problems associated with the waste materials and to maximize the benefits obtained by reusing the materials.
With regard to the foregoing and other objects and advantages, the invention provides a method for recovering organic fluids from sorbent articles to render the articles reusable. The method includes the steps of providing reusable sorbent articles, exposing the sorbent articles to organic fluids for absorption of the fluids by the sorbent articles. A system for treating the thus exposed sorbent articles is provided, the system including a motor vehicle containing a power supply and a self-balancing centrifuge having a housing and connected to the power supply for powered operation thereof. The centrifuge is positioned on the vehicle for transport to a remote site containing the reusable the sorbent articles. The centrifuge includes a housing cover and a rotatable basket received within an interior portion of the centrifuge defined by the housing and cover and configured for receiving a plurality of the sorbent articles. The exposed sorbent articles are charged into the centrifuge and the centrifuge is operated to rotate the basket to apply centrifugal forces to the sorbent articles for extractive removal of organic fluids therefrom such that the fluids travel from the basket into an annular area between the basket and the housing, A collection tank is provided in flow communication with the annular area for receiving the fluids removed from the sorbent articles. After collecting the removed fluids in the collection tank the thus treated sorbent articles are removed from the centrifuge.
In another aspect the invention provides a method for rendering waste sorbent material recyclable. The method includes collecting polymer-based sorbent materials containing one or more solvents and treating the sorbent materials in a centrifugal treatment system for removing the solvents from the polymer-based waste material. The treatment system includes a fume collection system and a centrifuge disposed in the fume collection system. The centrifuge has a housing, a housing cover and a rotatable basket received within an interior portion of the centrifuge defined by the housing and cover. The rotatable basket is configured for receiving a plurality polymer-based sorbent materials containing one or more solvents. The sorbent articles are charged into the centrifuge and the centrifuge is operated to rotate the basket to apply centrifugal forces to the sorbent articles for extractive removal of solvents therefrom such that the fluids travel from the basket into an annular area between the basket and the housing. A collection tank is provided in flow communication with the annular area for receiving solvents removed from the sorbent materials. The thus treated sorbent materials are moved from the centrifuge for transportation to a remote site for recycling. Use of the system provides sorbent materials having a residual solvent content that renders the materials non-hazardous for transportation to a remote recycling site.
An important aspect of the invention is the mobility of the system which provides on-site recovery of organic fluids and reconditioning of sorbent materials in an efficient and effective manner. The system thus reduces the need to transport relatively large numbers of drums or other receptacles filled with sorbent materials containing organic fluids which may be classified as hazardous to a remote location for treatment or reconditioning
For example, since the service provider comes to the site, the user need not inventory the sorbent materials as a hazardous waste, despite the hazardous characteristics of the sorbent materials, since the organic fluids in the sorbent materials which give then their hazardous characteristics are removed before the sorbent materials leave the site where the sorbent materials are used and collected for disposal. Also, as the service provider is able to use the system at multiple sites, considerable economies of scale may be achieved and the plant owner need not invest substantial sums of money in equipment to accomplish a task which a service provider may more economically provide. Another benefit to the system is that it enables thermoplastic sorbent materials to be treated in a manner so that the materials may be used as a raw material in a thermoplastic formulation.